FOX43 Finds Out: How long is “for life?”

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa -- William Petry has had DSL internet for more than 10 years at his home in East Pennsboro township, Cumberland County.

Besides that, he doesn't have many complains about his internet until he got a letter in the mail from Verizon.

According to the letter, Petry's DSL internet will no longer be provided after November of this year.

That's because Verizon plans to retire it's copper cables.

Petry will have to switch over to fiber optics which, as the letter reads "In some cases, this price may be lower or higher than what you currently pay for internet access."

Petry currently pays $14.99 per month for his DSL internet.

The same price he's paid for more than 10 years, and he says that's because he signed a contract with verizon when the company ran a promotion to get DSL internet at $14.99 a month for life.

"It's more about the principle of the fact that you offered it for life. There can't be a lot of us out there on DSL yet," said Petry.

Petry says the only requirements for the "for life" contract included keeping a landline, which he still has, and signing at least a two year contract with Verizon, which he says he did.

He claims he kept his end of the deal.

Petry wants to believe the internet company will keep its promise because Petry himself has dealt with life-long contracts before.

"I used to own an auto parts store. We had lifetime warranties. If you came into me and you had the bill of sale, you got a new part. End of story. Done," said Petry.

His table is also filled with different promotions Verizon has sent him over the past few months to switch his internet.

He says he's called Verizon and claims he gets the run-around. every time he calls - he is offered a different price and a different promotion.

"So far I've had half a dozen phone calls trying to figure out which way, and every phone call is different and every sales pitch is different."

FOX43 Finds Out reached out to verizon to see if we could get an answer as to what Petry will pay when he needs to make the switch.

A Verizon spokesperson told us that its DSL service relies on their copper network, which is being retired under FCC rules.

In response to the $14.99 for life, the spokesperson did say Verizon will stick to the original contract telling us "We will continue to honor the customer`s DSL price when they migrate to the Fios internet service offered to the customer."

Petry says he has heard that before from one of the Verizon sales associates, however it seemed there was a catch.

"Yeah, it was the same price. And then there was this fee, that fee, rental fee and when it was all said and done it was just probably 40 percent more than what they were actually saying they were going to do."

And we wanted to clarify that with Verizon, that Petry would only have to pay what his original contract state which is $14.99 per month and we were told this:

"He will be offered the closest Fios speed to his current speed, which will be the same or faster. Never slower. And so long as he makes no changes (such as adding TV or moving to an even faster Fios speed), his bottom-of-the-bill price will not change."

The Verizon spokesperson also said that someone will be in touch with Mr. Petry about the switch before November.

For now, Petry says he'll believe it when he sees it.

If you have a story you want me to look into, FOX43 wants to find out. let me know, send me a message on facebook or shoot me an email at FOX43FindsOut@fox43.com